NJ.com presents the June 2 update to the NJ.com Top 50, a ranking of the top 50 high school football recruits in New Jersey. The list is independent of class and encompasses the state's highest projected recruits, not necessarily its most valuable players.

The NJ.com Top 50 rankings take into consideration collegiate potential as reflected in FBS (formerly known as Division 1A) scholarship offers, the number and caliber of interested schools and overall potential.

Many in-state recruits
utilized the spring evaluation period – which spans from April 15 to May 31 –
to improve their stock while others saw their recruitment slow down.

During the evaluation period,
colleges are allowed by
the NCAA to send coaches to schools twice, once to evaluate athletics and another
to evaluate academics. If the college coach does both evaluations on the same
day, the school the coach represents is granted another athletic evaluation of
the athletes at the school.

During this time, football
recruits receive the majority of their athletic scholarship offers as coaches
visit their high schools and consult with their coaches. However, coaches are not
allowed to actually talk to recruits during these in-school evaluations
(visits).

Players who competed often
and attained positive results at off-season camps and combines were given the
benefit of the doubt over players who have not been as active.

Minkah Fitzpatrick, St. Peter's
Prep (Jersey City, N.J.) running back/cornerback and Alabama commit, remains
the state's top recruit. He could have selected any school in the country to
play for but chose the Crimson Tide – the most successful program in the
country over the past decade (maybe, ever) – after building a significant
relationship with head coach Nick Saban and the rest of his coaching staff.

Fitzpatrick was one of the
top performers at Rivals Camp Series- New Jersey (RCS-NJ) and Nike Football
Training Camp- New Jersey (NFTC-NJ) and earned his second ticket to the
Opening, an elite event that brings the top football players from
around the country together to the Nike campus in Beaverton, Ore., to take part
in a litany of competitions.

There are 13 new players
included on the list, with the biggest debut belonging to class of 2016 Bergen
Catholic (Oradell, N.J.) quarterback Jarrett Guarantano, who went from un-ranked
in our initial NJ.com Top 50 to the No. 14 player on our list. Guarantano
picked up offers from multiple schools including Michigan State, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Auburn, Nebraska, Clemson and Tennessee while also putting forth big-time performances at RCS-NJ, NFTC-NJ,
and the Elite 11 Northeast regional throughout the spring.

Barnegat's Manny Bowen and
Millburn's Jake Pickard were already ranked but made the most significant
jumps since the list's debut, moving from 29-to-6 and 48-to-26, respectively. Although
he has not competed at off-season events, Bowen has become a top national recruit,
earning over 30 offers from Rutgers, Alabama, Penn State, Oklahoma, Oregon,
Notre Dame, Miami (Fla.), Michigan State, South Carolina and many others.

Pickard put forth solid
performances at RCS–NJ and NFTC-NJ and earned offers from 11 FBS schools
including Rutgers, Virginia, Boston College and Nebraska.

Additional recruits who raised
their stock since the last update include St. Peter's Prep junior quarterback
Brandon Wimbush, St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.) junior offensive guard
Tommy Hatton and DePaul Catholic (Wayne, N.J.) sophomore running back Kareem
Walker, who all had productive springs.

Wimbush, who committed to Penn State in May, won quarterback MVP
at RCS- NJ, top quarterback at NFTC-NJ, was a top performer at the Elite 11
Northeast regional and also attained a ticket to the Opening.

With Wimbush moving into the
third spot, the Marauders claim two of the top three players in the state, and
have four players on the list, overall – more than any other high school.

Hatton also won a ticket to
the Opening after receiving Offensive Line MVP honors at NFTC-NJ. And Walker,
although quiet throughout the off-season, had a solid showing at RCS-NJ, and
earned offers from a plethora of schools including Florida State, Alabama and
Notre Dame.

There are 38 juniors and 12
sophomores included, while no freshmen made the list this time around.

The rankings will be updated
quarterly based any changes in our projections, the next to come on the verge of
the 2014 football season. The final update of the current recruiting cycle will occur at
the end of the season, when most of the dust has settled.

Note:Be sure to clear your cache in order to view the new chart properly.